Seed Treatments Help Control Nematodes in Corn and Soybeans

"One for blackbird, one for
the crow, one for the cutworm, and one to grow."

If you applied that to farming,
you’d be bankrupt before year’s end. That’s particularly true in light of
rising seed costs for seed offering high-yield genetics and trait protection.

“It make a lot of sense for growers
to protect that high value with a seed treatment,” says Keith Vodrazka, product
manager, marketing and portfolio management for Bayer CropScience.

Vodrazka and other Bayer officials
stopped by our office this week to update us on Bayer seed treatments.

More soybeans are being treated

It’s been common for farmers to
plant treated corn seed. What has changed, though, are soybeans treated with an
insecticide and fungicide. Soybean
treatment use has risen from 25% in 2006 to 60% in 2010.

There’s a newcomer to seed
treatment products—nematode control. Bayer has launched a product called
Poncho/Votivo labeled for both corn and soybeans that curbs early-season fungal
diseases, early-season insects, and nematodes.

“We see nematodes as a major
issue,” says Vodrazka. “The main one out there is soybean cyst nematode, which
does $1 billion a year in damage to soybeans yearly.”

Nematodes also adversely impact
corn, too. Damage varies according to species. Needle and sting nematodes,
which can exist only in soils with at least 70% sand, have an economic damage
threshold of as few as one per half-cup of soil.